Research Interest

Dr. Zhao's research interest include investigating and validating biomarkers in molecular pathogenesis, diagnosis, and target intervention in cancer and leukemia. One of his projects is to study the role of isoform 6 of IKZF1 gene in leukemia or lymphoma progression which has been shown to be leukemogenic in Philadelphia chromosome positive ALL. In addition, his laboratory is studying the novel role of CYP2E1 in differentiation of megakaryopoiesis. In cancers, the lab is interested in cell cycle dysregulation by activating mutations of EGFR, KRAS, and EML4-ALK genes in lung cancer.